Rick Santorum now appears to have solid leads over Mitt Romney both nationally and in Michigan. According to Pew, Santorum is preferred by conservatives 36 percent to 25 percent. Meanwhile, moderate and liberal Republicans prefer Romney 34 percent to 20 percent.
Which is a bit odd, considering that The New York Times in-house Republican-moderate David Brooks loves Santorum. Here is Brooks on Santorum on January 2nd:
Here is he again on January 5th:
Now here is Brooks again today, not on Santorum, but just on the proper role of the federal government in society:
This requires bourgeois paternalism: Building organizations and structures that induce people to behave responsibly rather than irresponsibly and, yes, sometimes using government to do so.
There is no bigger fan of big government-nanny state paternalism than David Brooks. He just offers up a slightly different flavor of what the federal government should be mandating than Obama. The fact that Brooks sees Santorum is an ideological ally should send conservatives running in the opposite direction.
Santorum is a perfectly decent alternative Romney. He may even be a more electable alternative to Romney. But he is not a conservative alternative to Romney.
